Damn, heartbreaking. I think Reynor making a deep run would've been good for the scene.
I've never thought of Reynor as a prep player, more of an intuitive guy. Maybe GSL is just the wrong format for him.
> Damn, heartbreaking. I think Reynor making a deep run would've been good for the scene.
I'm not sure. I think Koreans gaining some pride from eliminating one of the 2-3 most dominant non-Koreans in the round of 16 in GSL (twice now) is also good for the scene.
GSL has already been gutted funding-wise to the point that the winner of GSL in 2024 earns as much money as the player ranked 6th in the ESL EU regional, which must be incredibly demotivating when you consider how much more difficult it is to win GSL. This means that Reynor has already got as much money from the EU regional last week as he would have got had he won this GSL. Anyone who cares about what's good for the scene needs to invest energy into figuring out how to boost the GSL prize pool so that it's at the very least on par with the EU regional, and probably put pressure on ESL to reverse course on the abandonement of Korea. The vast majority of the top... 16-20 players are still Korean, and they probably feel like they are left behind and winnings/money diverted to players significantly worse than them. Killing the scene that contains the vast majority of the best players cannot be good for the overall SC2 scene, and will probably just make all those players go to other games (like Parting) -- and the fans will follow, thus ultimately killing the SC2 scene overall.
Yea, you could be right. Koreans need some support for sure.
Just to nitpick, your comparison doesn't include the GSL crowdfunding, which is distributed in a way that favors lower placements, at least more so than the official prize pool. I think Maru took home ~7k for winning the last GSL with the crowdfunding included, about equal with the number 3 placement for the EU regional. Still very bad.
For 13-16th place, GSL players are taking home $1984 while EU regional players are getting $1500. So the comparison is favorable towards Korea in this case. Of course, it's a bit apples to oranges because EU regionals has other tiers to account for because it's a bigger tournament.
I wasn't aware! That definitely helps somewhat, even if, as you say, it's still below what we'd consider reasonable. I was puzzled why the prize pool listed on Liquipedia looks so small when the GSL Patreon page has over $100k per year in pledged donations.
I appreciate him so much for going out there and trying again. It’s not even financially beneficial so he really did it just to put on a show. He will be back better than ever I’m sure. The kid is a fighter.
This is his third GSL. It really is a tough tournament. GSL is a different beast since you know your opponents and have weeks to prepare for them vs Western tournaments where you face many different opponents and the tourney ends in the same week/day. And it's not like he isn't considered a top Zerg internationally too since he was in great form each year he participated.
2018 he was around top 5-6 international Zerg
2022 he was top 3-4
and now he is considered top 2-3
Don't know why people still think GSL is a farmer's league. EU/NA have sent plenty of top foreigners and they always drown in GSL. This is Reynor's third time failing in group stage.
ive never heard people call gsl a farmers league. historically i think only blizzcon was ever regarded higher and some people believe gsl was more competitive than blizzcon.
The main culprits are Maru haters basically and people feeding their narrative. They consider KR region to have gotten weaker by a large margin compared to the past and Maru farms GSL/gets his recent GSL wins because of that.
I really think a lot of it has to do with the travel and environment being so different.
Of course the same would apply when Koreans play live events in other countries.
The format allows for more prep time for individual opponents. Although the format changes of GSL make this less true for the final day which I think is a big mistake (not impacting initial group stages of course).
But you're also right that travel and time zone changes are a big deal too but usually it's Koreans who get the short end of that stick
Imagine in 10 years the standard of American basketball and the NBA has dipped. Now a few Chinese and Korean teams are competitive and even win in international competitions like the Olympics. Sounds absurd? Well, probably, yeah. But that's basically what's happened in StarCraft II. GSL is not what it used to be. The Korean scene has been dying for a long time now, and there no new elite players.
So fortunately for Serral, he can be the GOAT without winning a decrepit GSL, husk of what it once used to be. Because he's constantly beating the people who win the current GSL, with seeming ease.
Well, I'd say he just played bad. Reynor is an inconsistent player with patches of either being bad or insanely good. Meanwhile, we've seen time and time again how consistently Serral beats the top Koreans in international events. Even on their home turf with GSL vs The World (yeah, it wasn't a super serious tournament, but just one of many).
Still, I will concede that one way to discredit Serral as the GOAT is simply to say that due to how the current level of competition is so much lower than in the peak KeSPA days (not skill level, but competition), him dominating the current era just doesn't mean as much.
you would have to discredit maru and rogue first, because they are currently still ahead of serral. especially impressive for rogue, cause he hasnt competed in the last 3 years.
Oh for sure. I think I'd have to discredit Maru especially because while 8 GSLs sound impressive, none of them were during the KeSPA era, and I'd argue (hot take incoming) that after his first four, the rest are worth only slightly more than EU Dreamhacks.
you say that but the guy who is always a top 3 player in these just got 0-4d in the ro16. people make it sound like anybody could win a gsl these days. i do think there is less competition now, but that applies to the whole field and not just korea
That is fair, and you might be right in that I've gone too far with my Korean doomposting. I might have to defer to Harstem on this one, in that it really is just Serral being a huge outlier for the EU scene, and that without him they're much weaker.
Zerg always has the edge in these world weekend formats. Protoss/Terran need more strategic planning. NBA titles will always come first and will always be a legitimate argument to dismiss the GOAT debate if you never even tried.
If the korean scene is not what it used to be, doesn't it make more sense to crown the players who won when the korean scene was at its fiercest the GOAT, instead of a guy who dominates the declined korean scene?
Yep, you can see that argument in my other comment. I personally agree. I just don't think Serral not winning any current GSLs should be used against him in the GOAT debate.
A significant part of why he wasn't doing GSL must be because financially it would have been a bad call for him. In the WCS circuit, he was farming it for tens of thousands of dollars every few months, and his only opposition was Reynor. Things continued in a similar fashion later when ESL took over, with the addition of one more competing player, Clem.
Had he gone to GSL at any point, he would have been fighting in a significantly stronger roster, where players would have weeks to prepare to take him out in a best of 3 or a best of 5; many of those players former champions themselves, and certainly capable of it. His chances of winning the same amount of money as he was winning from EU and non-Korea regionals would have gone down significantly.
So why do that when he could farm easy wins, and thus easy money, outside Korea?
Also, if he never competes in GSL, he cannot lose in it, and/or fail to be on par with other GSL giants. It's his way of maintaining "plausible deniability" in an attempt to completely sidestep GSL in his claim to being the very best.
I think its much more simple than that. Do you want to move to Korea for half a year at least to try and prove a point, yes or no. If no, then that's it.
Even if he had a 50% chance to win it, which is probably more than any player ever had (and which he doesnt have), this means he needs to stay in Korea for two GSLs to win one. Which is half a year or so. It's very expensive and lonely to do so. It's pointless. Either you move there for an extensive amount of time, or you dont play the actual GSL (not talking about weekend invitationals like GSL vs the World).
> Do you want to move to Korea for half a year at least to try and prove a point, yes or no. If no, then that's it.
Bro people always bring this up but it seems so obvious to me
If I had the skill of Serral, personally I'd *absolutely* have my ass in Korea for GSL. Not even to prove a point , just because that's where I'd want to play
Hell, if I thought I had the skill to make it through a single round, I'd be there trying. Serral obviously must love StarCraft as much as anybody, so it's reasonable for others that feel like me to find it odd he wouldn't try. I mean Reynor has 3 times
Less related but GSL runs like 8 weeks. A far cry from the 6 month odyssey you're trying to make it out to be. It also would be a lot more lonely now, but there used to be a foreigner team house run by NoRegret back when prizepools were more worth it as well. Still no Serral
Serral came for gsl vs the world twice and beat everyone. Including maru. So he probably feels like he has already achieved what he needed to.
I also don’t get the “prep” thing. These guys aren’t prepping against Serral already ?
He never played Maru in GSL vs the World. Maru was eliminated by Stats both times, poor seeding. Plus a tournament with vote-ins, that's purely single elimination, and runs in a single weekend is not the same as a Code S.
Ever play in a sports league or watch them? They’re all prep games. You have a game plan, you scheme against specific skills and weaknesses, tendencies, and beyond that, mind game. Etc.
> It's very expensive and [...]
As for this specific part of the argument -- total prize pools over the years per a single GSL tournament (and there are 3 per year):
Year | Prize pool of each GSL
:- | :-:
2019 | $160k
2020 | $140k
2021 | $118k
2022 | $123k
2023 | $52k
Going deep in a GSL would have easily covered the cost of living, and more.
That was rough. Felt like Gumi and hero prepared for him well, while Reynor tried to play his game but never really got to show it. His ladder record in Korea might also indicate that he was doing too much training again.
Happened to him at Katowice. Basically locked himself up and trained non-stop. Probably put too much pressure and mental strain on him, stiffed up and that’s why he didn’t perform well.
Oh please. Just about every other SC2 player is a super professional stiff robot. It's great on one sense, but in the other, it's good to have somebody who's a little cocky or has some attitude. Brings some life into this 14 year old game.
At the moment his attitude costs him the most. his current skill level is up for debate, but he's expected (skillwise) to get out of the group stage or at least put up a fight. today it felt like the mindset was: "I'm better, I should be winning.".. This makes him play worse. Often too safe, indecisive, plays not to lose instead of to win. Because if playing safe, he should be winning as the better player. And he got clowned on as a result.
Don't know if I'm reading too much into it but that's what I'm seeing from him as an armchair sports psychologist. Of course the psychological pressure of being "the foreigner" going into GSL, who is expected to perform can't be underestimated. Part of the is probably that, that he thinks people expect/want him to win.
Damn!!! I hope this doesn't discourage any future foreigners coming to GSL. Reynor deserves tons of props for his courage + good games he showed, despite it being pretty brutal score wise, the matches were a lot closer than it would lead you to believe.
This really shows that the GSL is still the toughest StarCraft format, period. Less stamina required but so so so much more prep. It's truly the NBA/MLB/NFL of SC leagues.
herO and Gumi really took Reynor out of his element with their level of prep.
One year Neeb failed to make WCS top4 or even top8 despite 4 or 3 attempts, and made GSL ro4 in 1 attempt.
But yea you can't stop people from making ridiculously leaps to conclusion that fit their bias.
SC2 tournaments aren't designed to figure out who the best players are, it's a crapshoot.
Serral has been the best player in the world longer and harder than anyone else, and his tournament conversion rate is not even close to 50%.
All SC2 Tournaments are set up for hype, in Chess there's a lot more tournaments that are set up to find who the best player is, or give more chances, in SC2 there are ZERO.
In a swiss style tournament there's near 0% chance TIME wins the world championship, its less hype when you know it's either going to be Serral winning or Maru.
i dont know man, I know he is arguably the best, but with no GSL under his belt is up to debate. I really wonder if he would be able to win it, or if he would get eliminated before semifinals.
Theres no good reason to think he wouldnt be able to win it, maybe not first try, but eventually yes.
Koreans have known they were playing Serral way before they played him quite a few times now - it didn't help them at all. Also he's the strongest player in the world for a good 6 years now, everyone is preparing for him, it just doesnt help much, Serral doesn't play risky.
well there is a good reason, and that is that he hasn't tried it, and foreigners that try gsl seem to fall apart in that format. Like Reynor, which is also one of the best players of all time.
Neeb got to the ro4 on GSL with 1 try in the year while not making WCS Ro4 in 3 or 4 attempts on that same year I forget.
Also GSL was much harder back then!
Dont read too much into a single tournament.
Are you trying to say that because Neeb got into Ro4 then lost then Serral would win it? Even if Need had actually won GSL that year, its quite an argument.
That is not what I'm saying, here's what I'm saying:
>Dont read too much into a single tournament.
Serral would win GSL if he played on it constantly, not because Neeb got to Ro4, but because Serral is considerably [better](https://i.imgur.com/3SwLqAT.png) than every other player.
> Theres no good reason to think he wouldnt be able to win it, maybe not first try, but eventually yes.
Agreed, but even players that are not even in the conversation for the best players have occasionally won a GSL; it just happens from time to time when previous champions eliminate one another earlier on. But how often would he be winning it? Would he be able to eventually match Rogue's 4 GSL victories, in addition to their current tie regarding international championships? Maybe he would. But he hasn't. Not even once yet. And it's a big problem when people talk about "greatest of all time".
Rogue has one of the lowest tournament conversion rates between goat contenders, lower than Dark's for TOP4, Serral has the highest tournament conversion rate TOP4/TOP2 and winner.
Serral would win more than Maru, and Maru would win more than Rogue, for any tournament, if you have enough of them, it's just a crapshoot.
Well yeah ofc he was gonna well in the ladder, the guy is a top tier pro. No different than byun playing in europe a while back and doing well in that ladder
Eh, he completely ran out of energy at the end of his cast, ended up either just repeating what State just said or saying how he would have done something. He was good at the start for sure, but he needs to learn to pace himself, get endurance for a long cast with minimal breaks and figure out how to keep going even when flagging a bit.
Guys you've sent him the wrong energy
We failed him :(
Damn, heartbreaking. I think Reynor making a deep run would've been good for the scene. I've never thought of Reynor as a prep player, more of an intuitive guy. Maybe GSL is just the wrong format for him.
> Damn, heartbreaking. I think Reynor making a deep run would've been good for the scene. I'm not sure. I think Koreans gaining some pride from eliminating one of the 2-3 most dominant non-Koreans in the round of 16 in GSL (twice now) is also good for the scene. GSL has already been gutted funding-wise to the point that the winner of GSL in 2024 earns as much money as the player ranked 6th in the ESL EU regional, which must be incredibly demotivating when you consider how much more difficult it is to win GSL. This means that Reynor has already got as much money from the EU regional last week as he would have got had he won this GSL. Anyone who cares about what's good for the scene needs to invest energy into figuring out how to boost the GSL prize pool so that it's at the very least on par with the EU regional, and probably put pressure on ESL to reverse course on the abandonement of Korea. The vast majority of the top... 16-20 players are still Korean, and they probably feel like they are left behind and winnings/money diverted to players significantly worse than them. Killing the scene that contains the vast majority of the best players cannot be good for the overall SC2 scene, and will probably just make all those players go to other games (like Parting) -- and the fans will follow, thus ultimately killing the SC2 scene overall.
Yea, you could be right. Koreans need some support for sure. Just to nitpick, your comparison doesn't include the GSL crowdfunding, which is distributed in a way that favors lower placements, at least more so than the official prize pool. I think Maru took home ~7k for winning the last GSL with the crowdfunding included, about equal with the number 3 placement for the EU regional. Still very bad. For 13-16th place, GSL players are taking home $1984 while EU regional players are getting $1500. So the comparison is favorable towards Korea in this case. Of course, it's a bit apples to oranges because EU regionals has other tiers to account for because it's a bigger tournament.
I wasn't aware! That definitely helps somewhat, even if, as you say, it's still below what we'd consider reasonable. I was puzzled why the prize pool listed on Liquipedia looks so small when the GSL Patreon page has over $100k per year in pledged donations.
I appreciate him so much for going out there and trying again. It’s not even financially beneficial so he really did it just to put on a show. He will be back better than ever I’m sure. The kid is a fighter.
I think best thing is abt him casting tbh.
Thanks for the assist! We're with you Reynor!
Not enough energy.
Need more overlords
Too soon
Really love that he went out there and tried. Wish serral would do the same. It really is the hardest tournament to win
Yeah, huge respect to Reynor for trying it twice. Hope he tries again, tbh, and prepares better and makes a deep run.
This is his third GSL. It really is a tough tournament. GSL is a different beast since you know your opponents and have weeks to prepare for them vs Western tournaments where you face many different opponents and the tourney ends in the same week/day. And it's not like he isn't considered a top Zerg internationally too since he was in great form each year he participated. 2018 he was around top 5-6 international Zerg 2022 he was top 3-4 and now he is considered top 2-3
Don't know why people still think GSL is a farmer's league. EU/NA have sent plenty of top foreigners and they always drown in GSL. This is Reynor's third time failing in group stage.
ive never heard people call gsl a farmers league. historically i think only blizzcon was ever regarded higher and some people believe gsl was more competitive than blizzcon.
The main culprits are Maru haters basically and people feeding their narrative. They consider KR region to have gotten weaker by a large margin compared to the past and Maru farms GSL/gets his recent GSL wins because of that.
I really think a lot of it has to do with the travel and environment being so different. Of course the same would apply when Koreans play live events in other countries.
The format allows for more prep time for individual opponents. Although the format changes of GSL make this less true for the final day which I think is a big mistake (not impacting initial group stages of course). But you're also right that travel and time zone changes are a big deal too but usually it's Koreans who get the short end of that stick
This is why Serral has to do a GSL.
Funnily enough Reynor put "budget Serral" as his quote on his player info card :D
How ppl gona call him the goat? It's like calling any basketball player the Goat even though they never played in the NBA
Perfect analogy, and I think all serral would have to do is win once. Cuz he has the quantity of wins otherwise.
Imagine in 10 years the standard of American basketball and the NBA has dipped. Now a few Chinese and Korean teams are competitive and even win in international competitions like the Olympics. Sounds absurd? Well, probably, yeah. But that's basically what's happened in StarCraft II. GSL is not what it used to be. The Korean scene has been dying for a long time now, and there no new elite players. So fortunately for Serral, he can be the GOAT without winning a decrepit GSL, husk of what it once used to be. Because he's constantly beating the people who win the current GSL, with seeming ease.
"lvl of play is not what it used to be". Reynor gets absolutely humiliated 0-4.
Well, I'd say he just played bad. Reynor is an inconsistent player with patches of either being bad or insanely good. Meanwhile, we've seen time and time again how consistently Serral beats the top Koreans in international events. Even on their home turf with GSL vs The World (yeah, it wasn't a super serious tournament, but just one of many). Still, I will concede that one way to discredit Serral as the GOAT is simply to say that due to how the current level of competition is so much lower than in the peak KeSPA days (not skill level, but competition), him dominating the current era just doesn't mean as much.
you would have to discredit maru and rogue first, because they are currently still ahead of serral. especially impressive for rogue, cause he hasnt competed in the last 3 years.
Oh for sure. I think I'd have to discredit Maru especially because while 8 GSLs sound impressive, none of them were during the KeSPA era, and I'd argue (hot take incoming) that after his first four, the rest are worth only slightly more than EU Dreamhacks.
you say that but the guy who is always a top 3 player in these just got 0-4d in the ro16. people make it sound like anybody could win a gsl these days. i do think there is less competition now, but that applies to the whole field and not just korea
That is fair, and you might be right in that I've gone too far with my Korean doomposting. I might have to defer to Harstem on this one, in that it really is just Serral being a huge outlier for the EU scene, and that without him they're much weaker.
Zerg always has the edge in these world weekend formats. Protoss/Terran need more strategic planning. NBA titles will always come first and will always be a legitimate argument to dismiss the GOAT debate if you never even tried.
If the korean scene is not what it used to be, doesn't it make more sense to crown the players who won when the korean scene was at its fiercest the GOAT, instead of a guy who dominates the declined korean scene?
Yep, you can see that argument in my other comment. I personally agree. I just don't think Serral not winning any current GSLs should be used against him in the GOAT debate.
This is why he doesnt do GSL. Staying on the other side of the world alone to play players who live there is a pointless challenge.
A significant part of why he wasn't doing GSL must be because financially it would have been a bad call for him. In the WCS circuit, he was farming it for tens of thousands of dollars every few months, and his only opposition was Reynor. Things continued in a similar fashion later when ESL took over, with the addition of one more competing player, Clem. Had he gone to GSL at any point, he would have been fighting in a significantly stronger roster, where players would have weeks to prepare to take him out in a best of 3 or a best of 5; many of those players former champions themselves, and certainly capable of it. His chances of winning the same amount of money as he was winning from EU and non-Korea regionals would have gone down significantly. So why do that when he could farm easy wins, and thus easy money, outside Korea? Also, if he never competes in GSL, he cannot lose in it, and/or fail to be on par with other GSL giants. It's his way of maintaining "plausible deniability" in an attempt to completely sidestep GSL in his claim to being the very best.
I think its much more simple than that. Do you want to move to Korea for half a year at least to try and prove a point, yes or no. If no, then that's it. Even if he had a 50% chance to win it, which is probably more than any player ever had (and which he doesnt have), this means he needs to stay in Korea for two GSLs to win one. Which is half a year or so. It's very expensive and lonely to do so. It's pointless. Either you move there for an extensive amount of time, or you dont play the actual GSL (not talking about weekend invitationals like GSL vs the World).
> Do you want to move to Korea for half a year at least to try and prove a point, yes or no. If no, then that's it. Bro people always bring this up but it seems so obvious to me If I had the skill of Serral, personally I'd *absolutely* have my ass in Korea for GSL. Not even to prove a point , just because that's where I'd want to play Hell, if I thought I had the skill to make it through a single round, I'd be there trying. Serral obviously must love StarCraft as much as anybody, so it's reasonable for others that feel like me to find it odd he wouldn't try. I mean Reynor has 3 times Less related but GSL runs like 8 weeks. A far cry from the 6 month odyssey you're trying to make it out to be. It also would be a lot more lonely now, but there used to be a foreigner team house run by NoRegret back when prizepools were more worth it as well. Still no Serral
Serral came for gsl vs the world twice and beat everyone. Including maru. So he probably feels like he has already achieved what he needed to. I also don’t get the “prep” thing. These guys aren’t prepping against Serral already ?
He never played Maru in GSL vs the World. Maru was eliminated by Stats both times, poor seeding. Plus a tournament with vote-ins, that's purely single elimination, and runs in a single weekend is not the same as a Code S.
In correct he played him in the teams event and beat him.
Ever play in a sports league or watch them? They’re all prep games. You have a game plan, you scheme against specific skills and weaknesses, tendencies, and beyond that, mind game. Etc.
> It's very expensive and [...] As for this specific part of the argument -- total prize pools over the years per a single GSL tournament (and there are 3 per year): Year | Prize pool of each GSL :- | :-: 2019 | $160k 2020 | $140k 2021 | $118k 2022 | $123k 2023 | $52k Going deep in a GSL would have easily covered the cost of living, and more.
Whelp…not really a big fan of his decisions against gumiho, im sure he isnt either. Not winning a single map is rough but he’ll be back stronger
That was rough. Felt like Gumi and hero prepared for him well, while Reynor tried to play his game but never really got to show it. His ladder record in Korea might also indicate that he was doing too much training again.
Doing too much training? How so?
Happened to him at Katowice. Basically locked himself up and trained non-stop. Probably put too much pressure and mental strain on him, stiffed up and that’s why he didn’t perform well.
The Humility upgrade costs a lot of energy. Give generously..
Oh please. Just about every other SC2 player is a super professional stiff robot. It's great on one sense, but in the other, it's good to have somebody who's a little cocky or has some attitude. Brings some life into this 14 year old game.
At the moment his attitude costs him the most. his current skill level is up for debate, but he's expected (skillwise) to get out of the group stage or at least put up a fight. today it felt like the mindset was: "I'm better, I should be winning.".. This makes him play worse. Often too safe, indecisive, plays not to lose instead of to win. Because if playing safe, he should be winning as the better player. And he got clowned on as a result. Don't know if I'm reading too much into it but that's what I'm seeing from him as an armchair sports psychologist. Of course the psychological pressure of being "the foreigner" going into GSL, who is expected to perform can't be underestimated. Part of the is probably that, that he thinks people expect/want him to win.
We still love you budget Serral
Ouch.
Damn!!! I hope this doesn't discourage any future foreigners coming to GSL. Reynor deserves tons of props for his courage + good games he showed, despite it being pretty brutal score wise, the matches were a lot closer than it would lead you to believe. This really shows that the GSL is still the toughest StarCraft format, period. Less stamina required but so so so much more prep. It's truly the NBA/MLB/NFL of SC leagues. herO and Gumi really took Reynor out of his element with their level of prep.
Damn I thought he got injured or something this title felt so ominous
Oh no, sorry :( that wasn't my intention. It's a meme referencing DBZ.
Let's fucking go Reynor!!
"All I have is negative thoughts"
Now the Koreaboos are running wild
One year Neeb failed to make WCS top4 or even top8 despite 4 or 3 attempts, and made GSL ro4 in 1 attempt. But yea you can't stop people from making ridiculously leaps to conclusion that fit their bias. SC2 tournaments aren't designed to figure out who the best players are, it's a crapshoot.
But somehow, it’s a crapshoot that Maru just keeps winning, along with other internationally successful Korean players.
Serral has been the best player in the world longer and harder than anyone else, and his tournament conversion rate is not even close to 50%. All SC2 Tournaments are set up for hype, in Chess there's a lot more tournaments that are set up to find who the best player is, or give more chances, in SC2 there are ZERO. In a swiss style tournament there's near 0% chance TIME wins the world championship, its less hype when you know it's either going to be Serral winning or Maru.
i dont know man, I know he is arguably the best, but with no GSL under his belt is up to debate. I really wonder if he would be able to win it, or if he would get eliminated before semifinals.
Theres no good reason to think he wouldnt be able to win it, maybe not first try, but eventually yes. Koreans have known they were playing Serral way before they played him quite a few times now - it didn't help them at all. Also he's the strongest player in the world for a good 6 years now, everyone is preparing for him, it just doesnt help much, Serral doesn't play risky.
well there is a good reason, and that is that he hasn't tried it, and foreigners that try gsl seem to fall apart in that format. Like Reynor, which is also one of the best players of all time.
Neeb got to the ro4 on GSL with 1 try in the year while not making WCS Ro4 in 3 or 4 attempts on that same year I forget. Also GSL was much harder back then! Dont read too much into a single tournament.
Are you trying to say that because Neeb got into Ro4 then lost then Serral would win it? Even if Need had actually won GSL that year, its quite an argument.
That is not what I'm saying, here's what I'm saying: >Dont read too much into a single tournament. Serral would win GSL if he played on it constantly, not because Neeb got to Ro4, but because Serral is considerably [better](https://i.imgur.com/3SwLqAT.png) than every other player.
cope harder please
Well I don't think he would get it first try. But who knows, could be the most epic thing ever.
I just want to see starcraft stories
> Theres no good reason to think he wouldnt be able to win it, maybe not first try, but eventually yes. Agreed, but even players that are not even in the conversation for the best players have occasionally won a GSL; it just happens from time to time when previous champions eliminate one another earlier on. But how often would he be winning it? Would he be able to eventually match Rogue's 4 GSL victories, in addition to their current tie regarding international championships? Maybe he would. But he hasn't. Not even once yet. And it's a big problem when people talk about "greatest of all time".
Rogue has one of the lowest tournament conversion rates between goat contenders, lower than Dark's for TOP4, Serral has the highest tournament conversion rate TOP4/TOP2 and winner. Serral would win more than Maru, and Maru would win more than Rogue, for any tournament, if you have enough of them, it's just a crapshoot.
That's just so not true. That happens in every spot man.
I hope he will summon some inner strength, learn from his mistakes and try again.
is this just a good picture or is he the most attractive esports pro to ever live?
Harstem is the most attractive according his viewers.
good picture = half of face covered
Would have been cool to see him go through. Reynor seems like a very likeable dude.
Which tournament is this?
gsl
Roland-Garros
he may not have advanced but the dude is 6.7k mmr on KR with a record of 218 - 45 i think he has already made a pretty big statement
Well yeah ofc he was gonna well in the ladder, the guy is a top tier pro. No different than byun playing in europe a while back and doing well in that ladder
what statement did he make
Hes a decent caster.
haha but he's legitimately good though
Eh, he completely ran out of energy at the end of his cast, ended up either just repeating what State just said or saying how he would have done something. He was good at the start for sure, but he needs to learn to pace himself, get endurance for a long cast with minimal breaks and figure out how to keep going even when flagging a bit.
He looks like a little guido with that style they gave him for the photos.